Oh, Be Careful, Mom and Dad!

Remember that children’s song, “Oh, Be Careful, Little Eyes, What You See?”  It’s a lesson even many parents need to learn when it comes to their children.

While doing research for my book, I discovered a page that was very surprising.  Apparently children are being exposed to pornography through some of the most insidious means I’ve ever heard of. 

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Familymatters.tv says,

 Kids looking for hearts and flowers for their MySpace pages are being subjected without warning to images of porn, drugs, and alcohol. Even more disturbing, many of these explicit images are viewed along side of popular cartoon characters and cute pictures of little animals.

The article goes on to state that:

During a routine survey of web traffic trends, FamilyMatters.tv discovered that one of the most popular web searches was looking for backgrounds, layouts, and graphics to decorate MySpace pages. We entered “myspace backgrounds” in Google and were shocked to find that each of the top 10 sites found by the Google search contained or linked to explicit content.

 Go to http://www.familymatters.tv/level_4/safety/warningtoparents.htmfor the full article.  I thought it was excellent.  I’m not against all internet use for children, but we parents need to know what dangers await our children.

I also found a very disturbing thread posted on a horse grooming supplies page.  The question was posed, “Are you a sheltered child?” (The thread is under the section titled, ‘For kids only, on Horse Forums, discuss horses and other topics’  Hmmm…)

Some young people wrote that they are not sheltered at all, while other wrote that they felt sheltered but are trying to sneak around the fences behind their parents’ backs.  The entire atmosphere of the thread is one of irritation, mockery of attempted parental guidance, and smug laughter.  (This is one response word-for-word.)

hahaha. I am extremelly(sp.) sheltered...at least that's what they think. I can watch R rated movie, watch tv shows that(in their opinion) aren't approriate and so on and so on. The thing is...I don't let them know how bad the stuff actually is. I'm not allowed to cuss...sure. I usually don't because I don't want to but I do sometimes, they just don't know. It took me forever and all these safety precations and safety talks until mom let me have a myspace page (lol. I already had one). They are really bad about horses (mainly mom) but they let me ride anyways. I'm almost 17 now but when I was younger things were even worse.http://www.horsegroomingsupplies.com/horse-forums/are-you-a-sheltered-child-80853.html

Now, I must ask, Why is there such a question as, “Are you a sheltered child?” on a horse grooming website??  Questioning authority is expected, to a degree, but to encourage questioning among those who’ve never thought of it is certainly not wise.  The innocuous placement of such a question also shows the dangerous nature of the internet, which has many avenues for young people to stumble upon faith-eroding material.

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The many, many interviews I did on second generation Christians who are living for God prove that they were sheltered, and are thankful for it.  In fact, they have embraced the lifestyle of “keeping the world out” and are sheltering their own children.

Arianna, one of my very sheltered respondents who is now teaching in a Christian school, put it this way:

One of the things I feel very strongly about is the importance of sheltering children from harmful influences.  I simply don’t think many people realize how vital it is to protect young people from the manipulation of the Devil. 

(This is an excerpt from my upcoming book.)

Sheltering children is one of the main modes for encouraging the next generation to take up the torch of the Gospel and run with it.  A parent who, either by neglect or on purpose, does not shelter their child sabotages their child's future…unless God intervenes.

Oh, be careful, Mom and Dad, with your kids!